Boy, are your customers selfish !

You may have heard all this before, but understanding how to communicate benefits and how your customer will benefit from what you have to offer, is crucial to your marketing efforts.

When a prospect looks at your web site or any sales literature for that matter, they are tuned firmly into Radio “WII FM”.

That's Radio, "What's In It For Me?”

Your prospect wants to immediately see just what it is you can do for them. Your prospect has a problem that he or she, wants YOU to solve, and they want to know if you can solve it.

Here’s an example of some ‘features’ being advertised in the local press and on the web.

“Our pans are professional grade cast iron”

“I do Home Conveyance”

“24hr Domestic Plumber”

“uPVC Doors”

You can see adverts with lists of features everywhere in the Yellow Pages in any town in the UK.

For example;

Tree Work

·         Hedge Cutting

·         Pruning

·         Stump Removal

·         Felling

None of these adverts stick out and there are pages and pages of them saying exactly the same thing, and it’s a safe bet that the marketing materials of these companies are exactly the same.

It's all too easy for you to reel off a string of features about your products, but your prospect really doesn't care at this point, because they can't see the immediate benefit for them; they want to know what YOU are going to do for THEM.

If you don't tell them straight away, they'll move on and find someone else who will.

So how do you decide on what the benefits of your product features are? Use the ‘Drill Down’ method

Start off with a feature of your company and ask yourself "Why does that matter to me?" If you can keep drilling down and asking "Why does that matter to me?", you haven't yet reached the benefit of that feature.


Interrogate yourself:

1. Name a feature.

2. Then ask yourself, "What's important about that?" Then,

3. "Which means that I get____"

4. "Which means that I no longer have to______"

5. "This means that now I get to______."

Demonstrate to your prospect how your product or service delivers the benefit. Here's an example;

“Our pans are professional grade cast iron” (So why does professional grade cast iron matter to me?)

“No matter how uneven the type of surface on which it is placed, on a stove top, an open grill or over a barbecue, it will cook food evenly. (So why does evenly cooked food matter to me?)

“It prevents burning or sticking without constant attention” (So why does that matter to me?)

“You will produce beautifully cooked mouthwatering food, easily, every time for your family/customers.”

There’s the benefit.

Here’s another example:

“We sell running vests made from cutting edge textile technology materials” (So why should that matter to me?)

“Because the clothes are made of hi tech, soft, breathable fibres” (So why do hi tech, soft, breathable fibres matter to me?)

“Because you can move more freely and comfortably in the clothes, and they wick perspiration away” (So why does that matter to me?)

“You can get more health benefits from your running regime if you have comfortable clothes that enable you to exercise comfortably.”

That's the benefit.

People do not buy on features, they buy benefits.

It’s important that you translate your features to benefits in order to convince your prospective buyer they will benefit from buying from you.

People reach a point when they decide to buy. It’s just a momentary decision, and your task is to get people to the point of making that decision. You must understand that people will not get to that stage until they understand just how they are going to benefit from what it is you are offering them.

You could have the best product or service in the world, but unless you make people understand the benefits to them, they will not reach this decision point.

So here’s an action point for you. Gather up all your marketing materials, leaflets, brochures, website, letters, e-mails, everything; and examine them.

Do they convey benefits or features? If they are feature rich, then use the ‘drill’ down method I described earlier to get at least 3 or 4 of the benefits of doing business with you.

Then TEST your benefits on a small scale within your materials. Don’t immediately change tack with all of your marketing. Test it. So for example if you normally send out 500 leaflets by direct mail, send out 400 of your normal leaflet and 100 of your new ‘benefits rich’ copy; and see what happens.


HW Marketing UK are the Affordable Website Design Company of choice for Small or Startup Businesses in the area. Easily understandable pricing packages start at £250.  

What on EARTH are you in business for ?

Over the next few months, and hopefully for as long as you decide you want to stay with me, I will blog specific examples of how you can increase your turnover. I’ll go into these in some detail so that you can set about using them easily.

However, first I’d like to challenge you to make one cataclysmic, fundamental, generic change to the way you and the people in your business, do business.

If you can embrace this concept, and maybe some of you have already, in which case this is affirmation you have it right; then this ONE change alone can change the way you do business from this day forward, and it won’t cost you a penny. It’s about a change in your state of mind, it is really, really easy to grasp

So then, let me ask, why are you in business, what is your purpose?

The answer I would usually expect to this question is “To make money”; and of course that’s an excellent answer. To make money.  Absolutely nothing wrong with money and all that accompanies it. We love money.

But I want to get you to think about something else.

I heard a story the other day from a marketing genius called Chris Cardell which illustrates perfectly what I’m driving at, so I’ll start with that.

“At one point in time, Microsoft had over 40 BILLION dollars liquid just sitting around in a bank account earning interest. So what drove Bill Gates to get up in the mornings?  Was it that he wanted to make more cash?

Clearly not. He loves his cash, don’t we all….. and the more of it the better.

Bill Gates is driven by the belief that by continuing to do business and to drive development of his products, that he is MAKING A DIFFERENCE IN PEOPLE’S LIVES. He is bringing REAL BENEFIT to people with his products.”

I spoke to a website customer of mine a few months ago, while we were designing his site; I asked him how he would describe what it was he did.

“I cure stress”, he said. “I cure stress”.

So what was he this bringer of immediate relief? A doctor ? Hypnotherapist? Did he sell herbal remedies? No. He was a packaging machine engineer. He’s the guy that visits a packing plant when the packaging machinery breaks down, and he fixes it. Now in the fast moving consumer goods industry where the packing company has deadlines and quotas to meet, and is being kicked by the manufacturers of the stuff he’s packaging, crisps, biscuits or whatever; my customer really does “cure stress”. He fixes the machine and makes sure that the quotas can be met.[1]

This mind shift, if you can adopt it in your own thinking and introduce it around your company, will make you PASSIONATE about what it is you do, and why you are doing it. The best thing is, this will NOT COST you ONE PENNY. Change the way you think about what you are providing and why you are providing it, and you are half way to winning the war.

If you can start to make this make this shift and become passionate about what you sell, you will be the best ever salesperson for your products and services, and it works for every business. You will be proud of what you do for a living. Proud of your products and services.  

A Hairdresser could say “I’m in business to make people feel great”

Cosmetic Dentist “I’m in business to make people smile more”

Health Club “We re-charge people” or “we prolong people’s lives”

On a business card I was given today by another local web design company, it said “Hello, I’m Clive. I want to help your business grow.”

Why am I in business ? “To improve your turnover and hopefully improve your standard of life”

You may even get to the point, like me, that if I fail to convince someone that they need my products or services, and they walk away, I FEEL as though I’ve let THEM down by not being able to convince them that I can improve their lives.

So, I’ll ask YOU the question again. What are you in business for? What is the purpose of your business?

When you figure it out, write it in big letters and stick it all over your place of work…. and put it on your stationery and cards.

It can instantly change the way your customers look at you and will change the way you look at your purpose in business.

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HW Marketing UK are the Affordable Website Design Company of choice for Small or Startup Businesses in the area. Easily understandable pricing packages start at £250. The Company was established in 2009 by Neil Holley-Williams who worked for 25 years as a Freelance Consultant for IBM, Skandia Life, Invesco Perpetual and Carnival UK. Neil is also a trained Life Coach

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[1] The packaging man is at www.winslowengineering.co.uk